How Many Songs Should I Teach Each Grade Per Month?

As I continue to prep for for next year, I have a question about how to prepare and practice concepts. About how many songs a month or even quarter, do you aim to use per grade?

I plan very intuitively. But I'd like to streamline my work a little, to be a more focused. I have a fun classroom, but sometimes the concepts are so buried or I forget about them and move on to something new too quickly. Right now I am experimenting a lot with many ideas combining art and music.

 
 

How will we break up our year?

  • Quarterly?

  • Monthly?

  • Concept?

Choosing songs by concept

  • We provide the musical context

  • Students provide the pacing

  • We still write the map for the roadtrip (long-range planning)

My Curriculum Planning Process

  • The big dream (curriculum outline)

    • Road trip from Tennessee to LA

  • The map (scope and sequence)

    • Map the route

    • If I want to realize the big dream, how many weeks can I devote to this concept?

    • Students still provide the pacing, and we still make the map

  • The context (repertoire)

    • The stops along the way

    • How can we build a musical picture of this concept?

Song Decisions

  • Tied to how much time per concept you have

  • How deep into each song will you go?

    • Just for fun at the end of class?

    • Game and notational literacy?

    • Extended creative project?

    • Memorized? Listening lesson?

Songs Per Concept

  • 3 - 5 songs per concept

    • Rhythmic and melodic

    • Form, texture, expression, and “other” are embedded

  • Might overlap more than one concept

    • Rhythm vs beat and sol and mi

      • Pala Palita (Spanish-language game)

      • Jack and Jill

    • Rhythm vs beat

      • Apple Papple (counting out game from Sweden)

      • Bee Bee Bumblebee

      • Pala Palita (Spanish-language game)

      • Jack and Jill

      • Popular song

    • Sol and mi

      • Jack and Jill

      • Que Rorro Que Nene (lullaby from Mexico)

      • Ickle Ockle

      • List of four songs that students choose from

Kindergarten

  • Around 20 - 30 songs by the end of the year

5th Grade

  • Around 15 - 25 songs by the end of the year

This is a conversation we will continue to have throughout our planning process.

We’ll think about the balance in the opposition between planning intuitively and planning in a way that is streamlined. We can use repertoire that has many playful, creative, open-ended opportunities and opportunities for students to build their content knowledge in an intentional way in order to streamline our planning while relying on our intuition.